


Stayin' Alive

by JazzRaft



Series: Dark at Night [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9833300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: “You didn’t have to do that,” he said in a small voice.“Sure I did. That’s what your dad pays me for.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [tumblr](http://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/156462086802/prompts-8-16-18-21-34-for-hilarious) for #18 in [this prompt post.](http://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/156180067603/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and)

“I’m alive… I can tell because of the pain.”

He hissed as Noctis pressed his jacket into the wound, making the prince flinch back, horrified that he might be causing the glaive more harm than good. Nyx was just coherent enough to wave him back over and press his hands over the bloody fabric.

“You’re fine, I need you here. I’m just being a baby, I promise.”

He laughed, struggling not to wince at how that hurt like all hell and alarm Noctis even more. He was aiming to comfort the prince with a little levity, but Noctis’s gaze was glued to his crimson hands, urging them not to shake as he tried to stem the bleeding.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said in a small voice.

“Sure I did. That’s what your dad pays me for.”

He actually paid him to fight daemons on the borders of Insomnia when Niflheim came knocking… so he supposed this was technically within his job description. It might not have been within Insomnian jurisdiction, but it _was_ still Niflheim and still daemons. The airship had cruised over the middle of the road, dropping the Magitek troopers right onto the headlights of the first car. It was all screeching tires and burning metal after that; gunfire and warp-strikes.

“Hey, you weren’t so bad back there,” Nyx said, interjecting as much casualness as he could into his voice. “Don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing you kick ass like that.”

Noctis’s eyes flickered toward him for a brief moment before resuming their intent stare on the wound beneath him. Despite Nyx’s best efforts at bringing a little humor into the situation, he couldn’t seem to soothe the prince’s nerves. Uncharacteristic, from what Nyx knew. Assassination attempts were as common as coffee around the Citadel, so much so that Noctis was often prone to taking out the assassin himself before the kingsglaive were even informed that there was a trespasser on the grounds. Once or twice, Nyx had been on duty when the glaive was called to apprehend the would-be killer, and each time, he’d arrived to find Noctis unshaken and smug. One of Nyx’s favorite memories was of finding the prince using the back of an unconscious assassin as a footrest while he waited for the glaive to take them into custody.

The prince had been raised to fight for his life should he need to, and he was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Whipping between enemies and leaving an army of blue phantoms in his wake, Nyx had been impressed with the way his charge decimated through the troopers on the road, swords blinking in and out of reality, cutting through robotic limbs like he did this every day. In hindsight, Nyx now thought that the charging trooper whose claws he’d taken for Noctis would most likely have fazed right through the warping prince. But instinct had thrown Nyx’s body into the path of the trooper anyway, taking the bolts of draining electricity until Noctis whirled around and cut through the arm that had speared through his side.

Presently, Noctis glanced at the burning cars and dismantled troopers scattered across the road, searching the destruction for signs of movement.

“Do you think…”

“No. I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

The few Crownsguard that had accompanied Nyx on the security detail had mostly been killed in the initial onslaught. Nevertheless, Noctis couldn’t seem to relinquish the idea that the rest of their company might have survived. Were out on the road, trapped in twisted metal, half-dead and waiting for help.

“Hey,” Nyx called out to him, seeing his eyes go distant the longer he stared at the scene. “There’s nothing you can do for the dead, alright? But the living could still really use your help.”

Noctis tore his gaze away, blinking hard to clear the smoke and the fumes from his eyes. Nyx let himself believe that was what it was, anyway.

“Back-ups on the way,” Nyx reminded him. “And if the Nifs were going to send more airships, they would have by now. We just need to sit tight until reinforcements get here, and we’ll be fine.”

“You’ll really be okay?” Noctis asked, clearing his throat.

“Please,” Nyx snorted, unable to ignore the way that emotion was beginning to rankle its way through the prince. “Trust me, I’ve survived a hell of a lot worse than this. Dunno if you know this about me, but I’m a bit of hero in the kingsglaive. S’gonna take a lot more than one MT to take down a hero.”

Not even his attempt at being charmingly cocky could seem to tame the prince’s spirits. His hands were starting to shake again, regardless of how many long breaths he drew in through his teeth to try and steady them again.

“The last time something like this happened,” he said, voice thick. “No one else survived but me. So, I really need you to stay alive, okay?”

Nyx scrutinized him for a moment, recognizing the look of trauma which haunted a number of his own brothers-in-arms. Even himself. The shadow of Noctis’s hair concealed his eyes from Nyx, but he could guess what they would have looked like. Faraway and paralyzed by the distinction of a terrible memory, too closely aligned with the moment in the present.

Nyx reached down and closed his hand around Noctis’s, bringing his fingers to his chest. It startled him, and he made to object that he needed to stay the bleeding.

“Feel that?” Nyx said over him, pressing his palm over where his heart beat. “I am _fine_. Yeah, it hurts like a bitch, but it’s not gonna kill me, okay? I promise. The last person in the world you need to worry about is me, Your Highness.”

He smiled, self-deprecating, and again, he failed to encourage the same out of Noctis. The prince looked at his bloody hand, staining the front of Nyx’s uniform, his expression unreadable. After a while, Nyx felt him press his palm against him, feeling deeper for the thump of his heart and trying to assure himself of what Nyx already knew. That he was fine. He was going to live. And Noctis wasn’t going to walk away from this alone.

The prince swallowed a lump in his throat and dragged his hand back onto the gaping lines in Nyx’s side. “I guess it serves you right,” he said. “For trying to one-up me out there.”

“Well, if the world ever finds out that you’re better than the best the kingsglaive has to offer, then we’re all gonna be out of work, aren’t we?”

Finally, Noctis snorted in laughter, the barest touch of a smile cutting through the sweat and motor-oil smeared on his face.

“Bring that ego down to the training grounds one of these days, Your Highness,” Nyx goaded. “I’m sure I can show you a thing or two.”

“Just name a time. And try not to make it too boring for me.”

“That an order, Highness? ‘Cause remember that you asked for it when I nail your ass to the ground.”

Noctis chuckled, and for the next few minutes it took until the kingsglaive arrived, he was finally able to forget about the blood on his hands.


End file.
